Vaughan's R. Ferri Motorsport Racing team take run at 2014 Pirelli World Challenge Series

Yorkregion.com
March 20, 2014
By Adam Martin-Robbins

A well-known local sports car racing team hopes to leave a lasting impression in its first season competing in the 2014 Pirelli World Challenge Series.

Remo Ferri, team principal of R. Ferri Motorsport Racing with Ferrari, announced today at a special media event in Vaughan he’s running a two-car team, featuring a pair of Ferrari 458 GT3 cars, in the racing series.

“We believe we have a good car,” said Mr. Ferri, owner of the Remo Ferri Group of Automobiles, as he stood in the gleaming showroom of his Ferrari of Ontario dealership. “I am confident we will make a mark.”

Veteran driver Anthony Lazzaro and relative newcomer Nick Mancuso will race the No. 61 and No. 16 Ferraris, respectively.

“It’s certainly a very exciting time to be involved with R. Ferri Motorsport,” said Mr. Lazzaro, who has driven for Mr. Ferri in the past and was a regular with Ferrari in the Grand-AM and American Le Mans series. “We’re going to be competing against some of the best sports cars in the world. The series is at a time where it’s really going to grow and become stronger. It will be the premier sprint racing sports car series in the United States.”

Mr. Mancuso - whose father, Rick, owns Ferrari Lake Forest in Illinois and is a longtime friend of Mr. Ferri’s - said he is thrilled by the opportunity.

“I’m really excited to be working with Anthony,” he said. “I knew him only by name a few weeks ago and he’s kind of taken me under his wing a little bit. He has quite a lot of knowledge to share, so I’m just looking to learn as much as I can. And I’m honoured to be here, having an amazing car like this.”

Mr. Ferri’s team joined forces with Woodbridge-based AIM Autosport FXDD Racing with Ferrari to compete in the Grand-Am Rolex GT Sports Car Series in 2013, the final year for that racing series.

The combined team did fairly well, capturing a first-place finish in Indianapolis, but it wasn’t able to repeat AIM’s success in 2012 when it claimed the manufacturers’ championship, team championship and drivers’ championship with three first-place finishes.

“It was a fairly successful year,” Mr. Ferri said. “We learned a lot. I think we won a great race. ... It was the first time a Ferrari won at Indianapolis, it’s a very famous circuit.”

But, this year, he decided to take the team in a different direction.

The Pirelli World Challenge Series consists of nine races at venues across North America, kicking off with the St. Petersburg Grand Prix March 28 to 30.

Every race is broadcast on the NBC sports network.

“I believe we are going to get a lot more exposure (than with the Grand-AM series),” Mr. Ferri said. “We’ll get a lot more exciting races. They are one-hour races. They are standstill starts.”

Mr. Ferri is especially looking forward to the Honda Indy in downtown Toronto July 18 to 20.

“It’s a race that’s in my hometown and I wanted to be a part of it,” he said. “That’s what really made me focus to do the World Challenge.”

Mr. Lazzaro said to win in a racing series where there are no pit stops means you simply have to go full tilt, every lap.

“It’s sprint racing, so you take out the strategy,” he said. “From the drop of the green flag, it’s pretty much flat-out racing. The strategy is to try to be up front as much as possible.”

“It makes qualifying pretty important,” added Mr. Mancuso. “You want to be up front and hopefully ahead of the shemozzle, or whatever you want to call it, into turn one. And then take care of the cars, you know, with concrete walls an inch away at every lap.”

Winning the overall championship will be tough, Mr. Ferri acknowledged, so the team’s goal will be to finish every race at or, at least near, the front of the pack.

“We need to win, but we need to score points,” he said. “We need to get the car to the checkered flag and as far to the front as we can.”